How refreshing must it have been to hear Brent Mydland in the band early in 79, after the Keith and Donna act had gone stale? All of a sudden now there's a high voice that's on key, there's a full-bodied Hammond B-3, and there's the new, crisp sound of the electric piano. There's sustain in the band! That means Jerry doesn't have to use as much of that overdrive or whatever you call his sound from 78 to try to create the sustain that was missing (and really, there wasn't much happening with Keith all through 78 and into 79 -- he was a bigger mess than Jerry ever became -- at least until 95.

And plus, with this show at least, you get LENGTH!! This show's all about length. In later years, a 27 minute Scarlet>Fire wouldn't happen, and following it with Samson and Terrapin would be more than plenty, but in this show, they give you 12 minutes of Playin' that features some frenetic Jerry playin' indeed. After a full-length Drums>Space, you get a nice long Other One with an extended outro jam. China Doll is not the best -- Jerry has some trouble with the changes. But then a back into Playin'>Good Lovin and a Shakedown encore!!! Other than some slop as evidenced on China Doll, the other drawback is that Brent's still a bit tentative at times, especially on Playin'. He's still worlds better than Keith was by the end. It's a very nice audience; sound quality shouldn't hold you back from this one.

Great show with Debbie, Francesca, and Karen. Lots of fun, I never thought I would see the Dead at PSU.

Yeah, the quality here is not like a board recording, but it was a really great show. This brings back fond memories of my first show. And Shakedown was the encore, not the opener. Promise Land opener. Also saw my first JGB at Rec Hall in Dec. 77.

there is a certain ho-hum quality to these early Brent shows. The set list gradually broadens and begins to include the more exploratory jams, but this is clearly a period where there is less anticipation and more reaction in the interaction - kind of like when someone sits in.

This is an ok audience recording.

Hard to hear show for audience clapping.

REVIEW OF DEADHEADS FOR OBAMA:
From their beginning 40 years ago and up to this present day, “The Grateful Dead” has been a creative and cultural epicenter of the Psychedelic Cultural Revolution. However, in all that time, even in the face of great political adversity such as the Reagan or first Bush era’s, the band, as a group has remained quiet, politically. 2008 and the compounding crisis’s of this election year finally changed that with two reunion shows of “The Dead” I attended the second and far larger show ( Est. 15000) on Oct 13th at the Penn State Campus in State College PA. This show was amazing three reasons;

Politically, what makes this amazing is the spiritual and cultural energy that psychedelic events produce. When a rock star makes a statement, it is sometimes seen as self absorbed, in the festival setting, the inclusive element one feels gives political interaction empowerment. The message was to engage, contribute and participate. Penn State; an event of 15000 has a real chance of affecting this election. In a college environment, if this event is successful in swaying this very important election, a whole new generation could study political empowerment through music community and art.

The second reason why this show was amazing was because it was a family reunion. I traveled there with my daughter and about 30 of her friends to be part of history. On top of that I ran into about 50 or so people I had not seen in years. In these very difficult times I cannot emphasize my heartfelt joy to be surrounded by so much true family.

Finally my third reason was that the music could not be beat. Warren Haynes sat in the hot seat, performing with his usual class and style. The rest of the band was not just on target musically, but one could sense the camaraderie among them as they clearly were on a shared sense of mission. Finally the song list reflected beautifully the vision and hope who all of us who politically wish for a better day.

Liquid-Steve G

Another grate pull from Mr glassberg....a tad light on phill but concidering that this was taped 27 years ago this is a fantastic AUD. Also, I think '79 as a whole and perticularly the month of may '79 are vastly underrated. This show, esp. the terrapin>playin>drumz>china>Playin' segue, is just grate, no other way to put it. the playin' jam is shorter than others from the year but is focused and features some grate organ work from brent. also, the LL>Supp.>Deal that ends the first set is well done. 4 because i can only think of 5 shows that diserve 5 stars

not just because i was born this day but this has to be one of my favorite setlists ive heard the whole show is just amazing every one should download this show its the shit!

Like most of us, I have sleeves full of nice crispy soundboards and listen to them all of the time. I've got nothing against a good soundboard. However, when I listen to a show like this, I would rather be listening to an audience than anything else. Not in the sense that since there is nothing else out here on the Archive, I guess I'll listen to an audience. But more in the way of the fact that this show and recording is a gem and we are lucky to have it. Thanks to Barry Glassberg for doing the taping and to him and all others who had a part in making it available here. Each tune in the first set is jumping with energy and the second set more than holds its own with a quality setlist and high energy. All instruments are present in the recording, and there is a nice amount of Phil back there holding the low end down. Good stuff.

I was there, a true GD newbie with a bunch of studio vinyl in my collection but no live stuff other than the dreaded Steal Your Face. I had seen the JGB there the year before and although it was a cool show, it seemed like it took the JGB four hours to play two hours of music with all the dead time between songs and endless break. I really had no idea what to expect and had my socks knocked off by the newly-rejuvenanted band in one of Brent's earliest shows. As I recall, the then-current hit Shakedown was in fact the opener and I remember a lukewarm review in the local paper saying they sounded like a bar band on it. BS - I'm listening to the streamed version now and it's pretty hot.

This was the beginning of my long strange trip that included two long stints on keyboards in local jambands doing many of these tunes. Glad to finally hear it. I may revise my rating after I hear the rest of it. I don't remember any bleachers being moved but I do remember that security was unusally strict for that show (considering the typical lax enforcement policies of the 70's)

This is a great audience tape. The crowd's a little clappy at times...but otherwise excellent. Plus, Dick says its missing from the vault, so this is all we got. The scarlet>fire is epic. Sheik...I think those firecrackers you are hearing at the beginning of Row Jimmy are actually bleachers being stacked up. I grew up in State College and spent much time in Rec Hall. The floor is surrounded by bleachers that fold up into the walls...I'm guessing the clacking you hear is the folding up of the bleachers for more dancing room. This is a very worthy download.

I had high expectations of this one, because i'm a graduate of the university (not to mention a big fan of the Dead) and had always wanted to hear this one. Unfortunately it sounds like crap. With all the other crispy soundboards on this site, why waste your time with this?

Great audience tap with a pretty keyed up and I am sure jacked up audience fun rock and rolling set I hot all over now sounds like firecrackers in the background of row jimmy if you listen closely..... Long and really jammin scarlet fire + great playin sounds like 12/31/81.

The shakedown was the encore however they did not open with this and as an aside this was the first china doll since 12/28/77 over 107 shows

And Lafayette's my alma mater. While that show is quite good (still can't imagine the Dead playing Kirby Field House for All College Day--it was several years before my time), this show in the Happy Valley smokes soup to nuts. Shakedown encore. Very solid AUD recording. The excellent second set list actually holds up to expectations. I mean, the LSD to close the 1st set, A great S>F to open the second and a Terrapin followed by a PITB sandwich?!? What's stopping you?

Buttery Glassburg Aud that really packs a punch. How bout the Shake>Straw>Stagger to open the second set. Jerry just puts the rest of the band on his back and carries them through with frenzied attack of spiral jams and heroin induced licks. First set is a cock-tease...the band is really feeding of the crowd and vice-versa. Great mid-set Candy among others...consider this the pre-cursor to 5-9-79 Binghampton....the gym was sweaty that night